Faculty and Staff Directory

Anthony Molinaro, M.M.

About

Anthony Molinaro, Director of Music at Loyola University, is the 1997 winner of the prestigious Naumburg International Piano Competition and one of the most versatile pianists of his generation. Acclaimed for his "edge-of-the-seat brilliance" and "musically imaginative mind," Mr. Molinaro has appeared as a soloist with over fifty symphony orchestras, headlined at major jazz clubs throughout the world, and composed and arranged music in both classical and jazz genres. He has released five albums, including "The Bach Sessions," featuring J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations and F Minor and A Major Concertos with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton; and "Here, There and Everywhere," a solo piano album exploring music of The Beatles. In a recent Chicago Tribune feature story, critic Howard Reich wrote of the latter, "an exceptional new solo album...He transforms these works creating a distinctive world of sound for each one... In effect, Molinaro has brough to these famous songs a harmonic sophistication, rhythmic complexity and textural intricacy that far surpasses the originals."

Mr. Molinaro made his New York City recital debut at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in 1998, and has since performed at prestigious concert venures and festivals throughout the U.S., including Symphony Center in Chicag, the Ravinia Festival, the Irving S. Gilmore Festival, the Eastern Music Festival, the Santa Fe Jazz Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the Charles Vanda Master Series in Las Vegas. Outside of the U.S., Mr. Molinaro has concertized at leading clubs for improvised music, such as The Rex Hotel and Jazz Bar in Toronto, Porgy and Bess in Vienna, the Bimhuis in Amsterdam, Unterfahrt in Munich and Moods in Zurich.

Mr. Molinaro has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, Downbeat magazine, and in the 2010 book, The New Face of Jazz. He is an Associate Professor of Music at Loyola University and a 2013 recipient of The Edwin T. and Vivijeanne F. Sujack Award for Teaching Excellence, "the very highest honor that the Loyola University College of Arts and Sciences bestows for the very best in teaching and research."

Mr. Molinaro studied at the University of North Texas and Northwestern University, and has won several awards in addition to the Naumburg Prize, most notably the William C. Byrd International Piano Competitionand the 1995 National Piano Fellowship from the American Pianists Association. When not concertizing, he devotes considerable time to music education beyond Loyola University, and for three summers coordinated a music program for physically challenged children in South Hampton, New York. Away from music, Mr. Molinaro enjoys a variety of outdoor activities and is an avid runner. For more information please visit anthonymolinaro.com.